On 8/20/07, Susan Dubose <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > I just spoke w/ my vet's wife, Sheila, and here is what is happening so far. > > She is adopting the black & white cat from the newsletter that you see when > you pull up the story. > > The cat is felv+. > (When she applied for the cat, health status including test was unknown.) > > She is getting 2 more that are felv+, for a total of 3 from this group of > 400 cats. > > The woman in charge of adoptions for BF, said so far 39 have tested pos. for > felv. > > Not sure how many have been tested out of the 400, but I would think if they > tested neg/neg, they would have to be "limbo" cats for @ least 3 months > until they are retested.
Even if they test positive on the SNAP test, that doesn't necessarily mean anything. About 20% of positives on the SNAP test are false positives. Of course BF knows this and will retest with IFA. In fact I believe all cats who live in "Benton's House" which is the FELV living quarters at BF are routinely retested. At least one I know of converted and later tested neg/neg. > > My situation is this, I have the BF application to fill out, however, out of > the original 25 we rescued from the hoarder in Houston this past spring (she > had 185 living in a 1400sq.condo in downtown Houston), I took 14 and someone > else took 11. That is scary. I live in 1100 square feet and don't even have 1/6 of the cats she had. 185?????????? But I am feeling I need to cut down in order to give my guys the best care. I can't even imagine 185. That is insane. I have "Nod" who is a 12-14 year old former street cat. He has a scar on his tail where no hair will grow. Dr. Samon has confirmed it isn't ringworm or any kind of skin disease, but he looks kind of like a possum. Also the fat tomcat face as he was intact until last November. Kinda crosseyed due to a scar from a fight or untreated infection who knows how long ago. This adopter adores him. Yay. Sebastian is a 12 year old blue point Himalayan, looks purebred to me, he is going to Seattle. > Her vet said that if they had an exposure to felv, and then were vaccinated, > they had an 80% chance of staying neg. > (jump in & correct me if I am wrong). There has been a lot of discussion about vaccination and I don't think anyone knows for sure, but I've never heard of vaccination after exposure doing anything in particular. Healthy adult cats have a ~85% natural immunity to FELV. The vaccine provides about 80% immunity. I'm not sure how the two combine - I've asked here and I still don't know. The FELV vaccine is not a core vaccine according to the AAFP, but I vaccinate all my personal and rescue cats against FELV. If I didn't have cats coming in and out and had a stable house, I would probably not vaccinate. > > On another note, I was very impressed w/ the BF screening protacol for these > cats, which I am sure must be standard procedure. > > They have a network that can do a home visit anywhere in the country, and a > pilot that volunteers to fly the animals to their new homes. > Yes, BF has been around a long time and has volunteers coming out their ears. I am most impressed with their total and absolute willingness to help any other rescue with any information they need at any time. -- Rescuties - Saving the world, one cat at a time. http://www.rescuties.org Vist the Rescuties store and save a kitty life! http://astore.amazon.com/rescuties-20 Please help Caroline! http://rescuties.chipin.com/caroline I GoodSearch for Rescuties. Raise money for your favorite charity or school just by searching the Internet with GoodSearch - www.goodsearch.com - powered by Yahoo!